dance with me!
by meggis
Summary: Steven teaches Connie how to ball dance. Oneshot.


"Steven, have you ever heard about ballroom dancing?"

The tubby male looked up from the book his friend lent to him, his eyes immediately sparkling at the topic.

"Yeah, I do!" The boy, Steven was his name, replied with such enthusiasm as he slid the thin bookmark under his fat fingers and into the page he was at. He was quite a fast reader, already at the last few pages of the book, all the while listening to Connie and her theories and her opinions about the ending for the book. Of course, Steven did not agree with some, but he knew better than to lie and agree ever since the Cloud Connie incident.

"Pearl really loved ballroom dancing," Steven explained, abashed, as he eyed the dark-skinned girl staring at him curiously, probably wondering why he knew about these sort of things. Well, it would still take time to get used to it, seeing that he was the only boy who hanged out with four ladies (beautiful ones too, Connie stated sometimes to her friend, wishing how she was as slim as them, with pointy nose and pouty lips, of course Steven would say she was pretty the way she were, and then silence would creep up on them again) almost every day. "She said she danced with my mom!"

"That's nice," Connie hummed, tapping her fingers rhythmically on her lap. Pinky, ringh, middle, index, thumb, rinse and repeat. "I was just watching this animation video recently, you know the anime I recommended to you before?" Steven nodded. "Yeah! And uhm... Yeah! It was really pretty. The girl with blonde hair and twintails was wearing this beautiful gown and stuff, and the prince was so charming he seemed unreal! Well, he technically is unreal, since he was animated and all, but—"

Connie widened her eyes midsentence, blushed in embarrassment and shut her lips in a thin line. She felt embarrassed for talking too much again, but the boy did not notice.

"Let me guess… You want to dance like that too?" The curly haired boy tilted his head with a grin.

Connie nodded.

"Well, then that's perfect!" Steven exclaimed, immediately standing up, pulling the girl up to her feet with his gentle, fleshy hand. Connie stumbled from the sudden force pulling her hand, but she managed to regain her balance. Steven took her other hand, his smile widening. "Pearl just taught me a little bit of ballroom dancing, too. I think I remember my mom dancing with my dad this type of dance, but I'm honestly not sure if I can pull it off well…"

Connie giggled. "Well, lead the way, Prince Universe," She sang playfully, causing her friend to laugh and pull her along for a dance, not the ballroom dance, just a little jam that's commonly shared between the two in a friendly, action-centred banter.

After a bit of swirling Connie around in her mint and swirly sundress, the duo decided to dance seriously, this time.

"I'll… Uhm, it's me leading the dance, right?" Steven asked sheepishly, like he had completely forgot about what they both decided on. Connie laughed again, before giving a brief nod. Steven pulled the girl close,his eyes trailed down to the bare feet on the beach that they were both on. Steven gently nudged the other's foot, before Connie complied, stepping back with her left foot.

Left foot back, right foot back. The two swayed side to side, their feet trying to keep up with the incredible lack of speed. Steven gently pulled Connie's hand along, signalling that they both had to spin. From a distance, you could see the two spinning around like a merry-go-round, Steven first, and then Connie. Steven, Connie, Steven, Connie… The two stopped, their intertwined hands subconsciously tightened their grip on each other's as the world slowly halted its spinning.

It continued like that for a while, side stepping and spinning around on the incredibly wide beach. Steven lifted a hand, and Connie spun around, her arms supported by Steven's hands, before she lifted his hand and spun back to face him, her leg lifting for an arabesque. Steven's eyes twinkled with admiration and awe, and in an instinct he grabbed the girls waist (of course gently, he would not want to hurt his dear friend) and lifted her up. It was a bit difficult to support her weight, but slowly he adapted, one of his hands that were on her waist put on her thigh so as to support her more.

"The arabesque lift!" Connie exclaimed, her eyes twinkling in joy as well, before curling up her legs slightly.

Perfect… Well, almost, before Steven's hands finally gave up and dropped the girl. Even if he was a gem, he was half gem, and he still could get tired.

Connie immediately fell, and with the air whooshing past her, she might have thought she was falling from a hill. She shut her eyes, bracing for the swift impact on the sandy but harsh floor, her hands reaching out…

Steven caught her though, his hands stretched out and Connie laying on his arms and his hands curling up so gently like she was a porcelain doll that he would be scolded for if he ever dropped her. It was nice to feel special. In this Earth, in his universe…

Connie grinned, half out of embarrassment and half out of pure, heartfelt joy. And she laughed out loud. Steven blinked, his eyes widened as if she was laughing at him, but who would laugh at him? He was sweet, kind, caring, optimistic… And her friend. Her best friend.

A smile slowly crept on Steven's previously-surprised face, and the two of them participated in full blown laughter, Connie lifting herself up to hug her friend. Steven stumbled back a few steps, before carrying her and swirling her around again, laughter surrounding them along with a big, white light.

And when the laughter of two ceased and turned into one, all the crowd could see was a tall feminine person with brown skin and hair the shade of chocolate, their body clad in a red, star-printed shirt with a sky blue singlet on top of it, along with blue Bermuda pants, though their feet were bare.

A large smile was on their face, their arms wrapping around herself as they hummed a silly jingle to themself, wobbling and spinning around in a clumsy waltz.


End file.
